


The Funeral of Hearts

by dciphoenix



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, F/M, Off-World, Romance, author forgot about Cam Mitchell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-03 20:31:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 9,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2886551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dciphoenix/pseuds/dciphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vala Mal Doran is pronounced dead after going back to her home planet, years after her days as a host. But when Daniel receives some news and has a visit from a ghost from his past, having resigned from the SCG has to go back to what he does best.<br/>But he knew one thing for sure and it was that it always seemed to rain at funerals and Daniel Jackson knew this only all too well.<br/>Is she truly dead?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It always seemed to rain at funerals, Daniel Jackson knew this only all too well. Daniel couldn't even recognise the majority of the faces in the crowd gathered around the graveside and the churned up piles of earth upon the muddy grass either side of the coffin that was being lowered into the ground. The casket, the wood a sleek, dark brown which in the cloudy overcast sky, filled with perspiration, cast a shadow down over the casket making it appear a blackened wood. The silver handles glinted in the poor light which also caught the engraving on the flat face of the casket. Vala Mal Doran.

"Liar, deceiver, thief, saviour – these are but a few words to describe Ms Mal Doran before she came to the place she has come to know as her home she has known for all this time. Unfortunately, her soul has passed on and-" The priest droned on at his side, he wasn't even listening.

He wasn't even sure she was even religious. But he was sure the coffin going into the ground was empty, the coffin underneath the rose and soil that Sam at his right side has just thrown onto its surface, obscuring the silver plaque from view. She sniffled quietly and wiped at her eyes with her hand before hanging onto Jack's arm on her right hand side. Opposite to him was Teal'c with a bowler hat on matching his black suit next to Cameron Mitchell, wearing a suit as dark as his grim expression.

They hadn't been able to bring home a body. They couldn't get in contact with her after going off-world and obviously the IOA and their weasel had sniffed out any negatives thereby persuading the General to mark her down as missing in action; the fact she was dead was much easier on their minds as she knew information on Earth and inside information of Stargate Command. If she had died, the information in the possession would lie with her. They had chosen the same graveyard the SGC used for soldiers whom had fallen in battle. When pointed out as to who was the next of kin, Daniel was the one on the end of the metaphorical finger after being called her boyfriend on numerous occasions. Suits with no name, using only titles and numbers for names had approached him coming from the mess hall back to work. Right there and then they had told him they were giving up their search.

Vala Mal Doran had been off world, on word the village she grew up in was under threat. Naturally, she had gone in search of more information without anybody's word. Although, Daniel had offered to go with her. That had been given approval from the General, yet she had gone and dialled the gate herself without so much as a goodbye. She had taken a P-90, side-arm and zat gun along with her backpack of supplies and items in her black BDUs as the CCTV cameras told the story of how she got out; first when the gate room technicians were on coffee break early in the morning then beginning the dialling programme before locking the door behind her with a zat gun shot to the lock – the was on the Stargate runway and through the iris in seconds. It was after a silent conversation on his behalf and a beer later when he let it all sink in. That was when the funeral arrangements had begun and when he realised he would never see her again.

"She would have liked today. The flowers, the speeches... us." Samantha Carter mutters at his side. She glanced at him sidewards before moving in front of him. "Come back to us, Daniel. We miss you." Sam smiles slightly and sniffs again.

"I can't. I need time." He looked down at his hands, avoiding her gaze. Avoiding them all since his letter of resignation. Teal'c had been musing in his own personal way as to how this future was different from the one he kept secret from them all after the events that had taken place on the Odyssey. It was possible they, Daniel and Vala had a relationship on-board. Such a pity they never could, now in this reality.

"I know nothing I say will help, only time will. We're here if you need us, you know that." Sam tried to find his gaze, though he was giving nothing away.

"Thank you." No emotion graced his features when she answered him.

"No problem, we'll be there, whenever you're ready." Sam linked her arm through his and kissed him lightly on the cheek before moving back to O'Neill. Teal'c merely bowed when moving away from her graveside. A single show of lament; no more would he be flirtatiously be called 'muscles' to his face.

Laying the bouquet of fresh red roses by her grave stone as well as throwing in a handful of soil upon her grave. The colourful flowers, momentarily forgotten, now being beaten slightly by the pouring rain. After that, he too, moved away.

There was a bench underneath an old oak tree that overlooked the grave yard, the silence was punctuated a few times by the birds in the trees and the odd guest leaving in cars. A tall wall with a black iron gate was at the end of the grassy area. The black cars that drove them all there were still waiting to take them back. The speech and poems long since ended. He wasn't even paying attention so he didn't know when he had stopped reading. He saw that Jack and Sam were at the end of the long path that ran from where he was seated on the bench until it ended at the metal gate, Daniel rested his eyes for a few moments.

"My Daniel." Her voice wisps over to his ears and he clears his throat before looking up. His head, at some point had lolled to one side. Falling asleep at a funeral was considered impolite.

Rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand, he saw someone who shouldn't be at this funeral. Seeing at it was hers. "Vala?"

"That's me." She smiled, it would have made him feel better about himself if it wasn't for the confusion wrapping itself around his brain and tongue. Her hair was in its usual wild curled state, stopping just below her shoulders. Not wounds or violence could be seen on her pale flesh, or make up for that matter. Vala's appearance drew his attention further as her movements were like smoke. She drifted towards him, her long, thin dress like a shroud on her small frame. It suited her. Suited the occasion furthermore. "How do I look?" She asked as if she could read his mind.

"Beautiful." The words were forced from his mouth before he had chance to think. "How are you here, how-" Daniel tried to get up, to touch her but Vala outstretched a hand and gestured him to stay still.

Vala floated towards him, her movements causing no sound. "I'm in your mind. This isn't real, you're dreaming, my dear." To further her point, she settled herself on his lap. Of course she had to, like many a time. She was always seducing him. "You've fallen asleep." Vala answers him.

"If this is all in my head then-" Daniel begins.

"-It's your fantasy." Vala smirks, tucking a lock of dark hair behind her ear as she finished his sentence.

"Can I touch you?" He asks cautiously, her body not as frail as he would have had imagined. Was he already forgetting what she looked like?

"Of course you can, I'm your fantasy. You can do anything to me." Vala finished and Daniel cupped her cheek with his hand.

The sun setting in the sky, on the horizon swirling the dark grey sky a pink making it look like a disturbing alien planet. Or raspberry swirl ice cream as Vala might say. Vala's face is caught by the sun and tuns her skin a slight tan. She smiled at his tentativeness before he pulled a hand around her waist – still as slim as he remembered her. The thin cloth left nothing to the imagination and did nothing to her body but make her all the more alluring. Mysterious and alluring. Daniel held her by the hips as he sat up a little straighter to meet her warm mouth with his. Running his hands down her bare thighs, he bent his fingers, catching her soft skin with his nails as he bit down into her lips after a couple of seconds of just kissing her lips.

"Mm, that hurt." She frowned and moved her hands down his chest, on top of the black suit.

"This isn't real. I want the real you." Daniel replied before kissing her lightly once more. One more time wouldn't hurt, surely.

"Daniel? Daniel..." Her voice repeats before he feels her escape his clutches. The second he opens his eyes she is gone from his body.

"Daniel, are you okay?" He looked up and feels his eyes a little bleary before sensing a presence beside him. Sam sits next to him and rubs her hand on his arm and shoulder. "C'mon, you've fallen asleep, we're taking you home. I'll take you back to your apartment."

*SG*

He wasn't paying attention to the ride home – that had become something of the norm without her soul missing from the picture. He had become a shell of his previous life, not answering his phone nor going outside. He had no job, no life and certainly no love. She had taken that when she left him, too. Before he knew it he was standing outside the door in the corner of his apartment block. Sam, leaving Jack in the car with the window wound down; much to his dismay.

"Look after yourself." She hugs herself to him when he opens his door, not letting her see the insides of his home. Nor his current state of mind. We're worried about you. He heard in the concerned tone of her voice, they all were in their own ways.

Getting inside and shedding off his jacket and loosening his black tie, Daniel presses a button on the answering machine and lets the electronic voice tell him he has one new message. He lets it play as he casts his eyes down on his copy of his resignation letter from Stargate Command.

"Doctor Jackson, I guess you are at the funeral of Ms Doran as I'm calling. This is a secure line so I won't beat about the bush by telling you there may be reason to believe Vala Mal Doran is alive, if you could get to the SGC immediately we have her situation to discuss."


	2. Chapter 2

"Doctor Jackson, I guess you are at the funeral of Ms Doran as I'm calling. This is a secure line so I won't beat about the bush by telling you there may be reason to believe Vala Mal Doran is alive, if you could get to the SGC immediately we have her situation to discuss." What?! No, it wasn't possible, was it?

Daniel changed his clothes in the dull brick room as he was mulling the day old message in his head. Since then there had been a truck load of MALPs and personnel lined up to send through the gate. Though in the end – only Daniel had gone through the wormhole.

The corridor was like something spat out of a horror movie, the slick, glistening tiles in the dim light was similar to something he had watched one night with the team on movie night. The bright and burning yellow flickering torches on the high walls gave the long room some illumination. Though not all that much so he would be able to see beyond the point he was currently at. Daniel pulled one of the lights off the wall and held it out before him. He knew there was a door on the other side of the corridor and beyond that – there was the prison cells. The damp, dark and stained cells where inmates, guilty and not waited for the end of their life. Or their release date in Vala's case. The guard at the door was quickly dealt with. The one at the entrance of the hall had succumbed to him and his zat blast, firing twice and not caring that he had done it in broad day light. His conscious had taunted that someone would come across the corpse and activate the alarms; so Daniel pulled it into a near by broom cupboard and put on it's armor over his own clothes. It fit like a glove though was sharp as a knife and cut through his garb and robes like butter while he fastened the belts and buckles.

Vala, by all means should only be a few meters and a few guards between his current position. She was imprisoned after drawing attention to herself – what a surprise. They had taken her weapons, clothes and chained her up. They were going to feel pain, wrath and a lover's greed by the time he was done. He would rescue her and make them suffer. He'll make them all suffer.


	3. Chapter 3

The pain never truly went away, it only dulled at the edges of her mind as it tried to clutch at the dwindling hope.

Back home, Cam would fight for her. Samantha would open the damn 'gate herself to rescue her fellow SG-1 female with only weapons and the weapon behind her eyes for help. Teal'c, he would probably be the only one seeing the slight glimmer of hope, invisible to the humans at the SGC. Daniel... Daniel, he would die for...

Vala sniffled, screwing her eyes up tight, salt tears escaping into the scratches on her face.

The cuffs that encased her wrist, the entire width of her wrist, from thumb to elbow stung as they dug within her flesh, the blood inside oozing out of the cuts the bastardized Goa'uld tech had made in her flesh. The blood ran and dried as her wounds burnt like little fires. Her arms, fastened to the stone bed, stained with blood, most of it hers, some not. The cuffs and the subsequent chains they were latched onto lashed her to the bed she lay on. Arms fastened down by her sides, near her hips and her mouth gagged by a filthy rag.

Days and weeks past without any food. Muscle definition long since gone. Probably gone to the same place as her weight, having only been fed dirty water. Her mind coming to the possibly of it poisoned. But each day they forced it down her throat.

No use torturing a prisoner who was inches from suicide.

Digging her teeth into her lower lip, for the umpteenth time since the day she was captured, Vala Mal Doran tried to free herself. Pulling at the chains that were her reaper.

Each attempt as futile as the last.

Cruelty was such an ugly trait to have.

Daniel Jackson promised her he would be there for her no matter what. Though this time no-one caught her when she fell this time around.

And she fell. Hard.

That day, Vala Mal Doran lost all hope of being rescued.


	4. Chapter 4

Daniel's just about to break. He can feel it inside of himself as he surveyed the path of destruction he had just left. The torch had burnt and flickered in his hand while he journeyed down the cold, dark corridor, seemingly getting all the more darker the deeper he went. There was only two Jaffa, he had noticed. Maiming the second one made him light-headed and feel a river of cold sweat run down his spine. Ba'al. The guard he had just killed was one of Ba'al's Jaffa.

Daniel took his glasses from his pocket and pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache emerging from the depths. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, hating being so intelligent sometimes. How could Ba'al do this to her? The guard at the beginning of the corridor must have been one of Ba'al's, too though it had been too dark and he had been too distracted to notice the emblem.

Daniel was better than this. He knew that much, but he'd tried so many times to find out what makes her tick and he wasn't going to give up now. Not in the slightest. He just wished Vala had used some of that good ole Vala Mal Doran bravado on whoever had kidnapped her and subjected her to such...butchery.

His heart sank standing only inches away from where his source had told him Vala should be, he felt that knot in his stomach tie a little tighter. Daniel pulled out a ring of keys he had found on the belt of the second Jaffa. Vala would be so proud. There were all similar in appearance, but there was one with a blue crystal on the hilt of it and a dull, old shine that knocked some sense into the historian. Ba'al wouldn't just put her anywhere. Quetesh was his Queen. Vala was host to his Queen. This love will most likely be his last.

He could almost see her in his mind's eye - Daniel knew she shouldn't be here, not here, not now. He wanted her anywhere but here so with a soft whisper of a curse he reached to touch the cold door and twisted the key in the lock. Hearing the heavy mechanism unlock, he ran a hand over the heavy door, ribboned with iron or some other type of hard metal. He opened the heavy door and Daniel dropped the torch he was holding, feeling an icy fist grip at his heart.

Vala, the beloved space pirate - his beloved space pirate, was laying prostrate, eagled out like a sacrificial offering with her arms encased in the metal Goauld cuffs he immediately recognized as a form of Jaffa torture. Vala, blue lipped and bloody although appearing she was sleeping. Her skin, pale and ghostly, half naked and brutally scarred on her thighs and neck. Though there was the part of his psyche that he just couldn't shake. Ba'al was here.


	5. Chapter 5

"Vala!" Daniel rushed over to the stone bed and his unconscious friend lashed onto it. He frantically took off the heavy, metal armour off of his body to get to her. Taking her pulse and temperature, Daniel eventually gently patted her cheek with the back of his hand. He was about to give up searching for any signs of life within her corpse like body but turned back, saw her eyes slowly open and felt her grab softly at his wrist with trembling fingers.

"Get me... the hell out of here." She rasped, throat dry before slipping back into a dreamless sleep, head lolling on the stone and sorry excuse of a pillow. Her freezing cold hand dropped from his leaving him speechless.

"My thoughts exactly. We'll go to anywhere you want...we'll just pack and go to that paradise planet you've been yammering on about, yeah?" Daniel mutters to Vala, whilst wiping the grime off her body with his hands. She hadn't stirred, not once since he had infiltrated the Goa'uld stronghold. Loosing any ounce of care fast, Daniel ripped the cuffs from her body and mopped up her weeping sores with the tattered garb once he had torn it from her. The stained, white dress reeked with her blood, dirt and impurity from her battered body.

"Once I get you out of this god forsaken place, that is." He dragged her through the solemn corridors, the dark brick walls fogged with her breath. At least something inside her was still alive. Something, anything. He propped her body up against one of the open main doors, as he wrestled with her wounds as well as signalling to their get a away driver whom was outside. He was one of Vala's old friends who had been related to her fiancée – or something along those lines anyway; he hadn't hung around long to ask questions. It was after a mere shake of hands and a nonchalant ride into Goa'uld occupied territory had Daniel hunted down those responsible. A month passes since that day.

"Hey Vala?" Daniel asked, playing the Prince Charming in her twisted little fairy tale that her life had woven. Walking into the room, Daniel touches his hand to her cold cheek and brushed away her mattered hair. After staying overnight at the village he had met his source and paid him in gold; who had unsurprisingly chosen to stay anonymous after the act.

He had taken his horse and hay filled cart and infiltrated the small village without another seconds thought. "We'd be a sweet disaster, wouldn't we?" He spoke to Vala, still sleeping, still unmoving. Daniel surveyed the villager's home – just a usual bungalow type accommodation with a burning fireplace and bedroom out the back. He had passed a fresh water spring back in the village and saw an estranged family using a well of some sort and after all that time, she still hadn't woken. Still hadn't thanked him for rescuing her from her little bubble of living hell. Daniel peels back the soft, cotton blanket from her, slipping in beside her into the narrow bed then wrapping his hands around her. Feeling just how thin she had gotten over the weeks, pulling her into him in a simple gesture of protection but equally offering her his warmth to stay alive. Soon after, he fell asleep, though didn't dream contentedly.


	6. Chapter 6

Daniel had felt Vala stir before he saw her wake in his arms. Blinking open one eye and then the other, he noticed the morning light streaking through the window over the floor and small rug. He saw how much of a mess he had left the evening before; supplies and his green BDU uniform and tactical vest were strewn higgledy-piggledy all over the floor bedside the bed. Daniel ran a hand over his face while the lighter, pale glow in the room cast shadows over them both. He pulled his hands around her waist to coax her awake as he moved the pile of blankets over them underneath her chin. He heard her moan softly and slowly wake. She looked even paler against the sandy, beige sheets, hair still mattered and plastered to her face. It was only then when he noticed the small scratches on her cheeks that matched those on her wrists to some extent. Although those were made by the torture devices. There was a bare window with no curtains and a door leading out into what should be a main living area. It reminded her of the homes in the Ori village. Even with the sparse decor. "Hey, good morning." Daniel Jackson greeted Vala as he watched her grow comfortable in her surroundings.

She smiled weakly and stretched her hand out to his cheek to feel his cloud of a beard on his face. "Am I dead?"

"Dead? No..." He shook his head and noted just how cold her fingertips were.

Her small smile grew a fraction as she smoothed her fingers over his beard several times before answering. "Then I must be dreaming at least? Hmm?"

"Nope, I assure you, I got you out of that that hell before you did die. Just as you asked me to." He answered, pulling her a little closer.

"Then I think it is a good morning?" Vala settled down in the narrow bed and gazed around the room. "I'm tired as hell."

"Then get some sleep, I'll get us some breakfast sorted." Daniel rummaged around in his pack for food and water and found two uneaten power bars and the canteen of fresh water. Along with some military food packs, he hadn't brought much in edibles, knowing just outside was a farming community and consequently whole planet and assuming it shouldn't be too hard to come by some food for himself and Vala. He was about to exit the room, hastily pulling on clothes after Vala had fallen asleep, hearing a commotion at the front door of the farm house. Daniel ran back in to the back bedroom, shaking her awake. Earning a less than polite reply, he pulled her out of the bed and into the store cupboard that equaled as another adjacent room. Holding a hand over her face, he whispered close in her ear. "Guards are outside."


	7. Chapter 7

Inhaling the dust in the hidden broom closet, wide eyed, Vala Mal Doran felt each and every inhale and exhale of breath inside her body. Choosing to breathe through her open mouth as if they would be able to detect any other sort. Regardless of the fact she looked moronic and like a little startled bunny rabbit caught in the proverbial headlights... Anyway, Daniel told her to be quiet, so quiet she remained.

It was with a press of his hand to her mouth and a whisper in her ear when he told her to stay put. Daniel then went out to investigate if and how the Jaffa guards had given up their search of the village. Probably searching for her. Or 'them', as she knew it was far too difficult to break out of the Goa'uld stronghold alone. Daniel had creaked open the door, but only a few short inches. Too much would bunch up the material covering the door as some sort of tapestry to keep people out.

She watched as Daniel, carefully tip toed around the windows and the still covered window panes. He held his breath and as she watched, Vala held hers. Pressing her own thin fingertips to her lips as he peeked into the space beyond and visabily deflated as he beckoned her over with an enthusiastic gesture.

"Coast is clear. They're gone." He moved the curtain once again to be sure then moved about the room unaided by the shadows. "But that being said, I don't think it's safe to stay here any more."

"You never know, someone may have tipped them off as to out whereabouts or they could have even seen out escape-" Vala carefully squeezed out of the door and into the spacious room beyond. Moving onto the bed and pulling the bed sheets around herself. She suddenly found herself wishing she still had the fluffy giraffe toy Daniel had bought her a few years previous when she had first started suffering from nightmares. It was beige and heavy and reminded her of home.

"Vala? Hey, we'll leave after tonight." He reached where she was kneeling, arms wrapped around her frame and the fuzzy thermal blanket she had snatched up from the bed. It, too made her more paler in the light and the sheet hung off her like an oversized poncho, but nevertheless, she looked as adorable as she did in his nightmare about her. "I had a dream about you, you know?" He sat on the edge of the bed next to her, backs of hands close but not quite touching.

"Really?" She woefully looked at him, big eyes and crooked smile.

"Yup, I think it was my subconscious telling me not to give up. And I didn't. Not for one minute, even though the rest of the team had. They didn't want to admit it but I could tell. It was at your funeral when everyone apart from Hank was there, Walter and Siler were though." He raised an eyebrow to potentially prove a point." Everyone wanted me to. But I knew deep down there was still that chance that you were still out there. Somewhere."

Daniel looked up from the ground to see her frowning, looking over to where Daniel had seen the Jaffa leave. The small town and village had changed all too much and she barely recognized it as her once home world. Even if they would have been made to run for it, had they been spotted, Vala doubted she would even know where to go. Right now, her life for once in years was in the hands of another. "I'm glad you're here."


	8. Chapter 8

He then answered. "As am I. I- We wouldn't know what to do if you had gone." He found some clothes, cloaks and food the villager had left behind for them. Daniel then had managed to scrape together a small lunch of bread and cheese for the both of them, which had earned several delighted sighs from Vala who had mused of missing her creature comforts back at Stargate Command. Earth food, cheese and chocolate apparently especially being two of them. He had chastised her for eating too quickly and told her to be careful what with not being fed since her incarceration. He then suggested for them to get more nutritious food.

"We'll leave soon as I'm able. I won't let you down, I promise." She nodded as Daniel picked threads from the hooded capes and leather footwear for them both to wear. He handed her the lighter from his pack and told her to search for supplies as he exited the bedroom to go in search of supplies.

Though Vala felt a chill creep up around her shoulders after he left the house and pulled the bedsheets around herself. Vala then exited the bedroom, still covered in the blankets and walked softly from the door and over the stone floor to the fire. Something next to the fireplace nailed to the wall took her attention slightly as it resembled a bath in size and shape, only the colour was different as well as the fact as it was hung on the wall rather than fixed to the floor. Vala gave the offending item a raise of her brow before going about her task. She lit and relaxed in front of it for a few moments before thinking of going to replace the lighter. Vala opened the door to try and see where Daniel had gone off too. After squinting and raising her hand at eye level, all she could make out where some shadowy figures of villagers and their houses. No archaeologist shaped person in sight. She pulled the cloak and blankets around herself more before standing more outside on the doorstep. Vala turned her gaze upward and found a swirling mass of grey and black in the place of the fluffy clouds, the blue and sky. She huffed and narrowed her eyes again, but this time trying to make out the beached Ha'tak vessel shrouded in the trees and shrubs at the far side of the village. But nevertheless, she couldn't make out that peculiar shape either. Vala shuddered at the memory and when she did that, felt an icy cold droplet of rain run down her back. With a gasp, the followed the path of the rain drop with her fingers. Noticing the same thing happen to the villagers she was studying from afar, Vala, though having her own problems with the rainy planet saw the rain his the muddy excuse for the ground and saw the drops double then multiply on the floor of the single-floor village. She closed the door behind her then pulled up the hood of the cloak.

"Vala? What are you doing?" Chastised a figure who took his own hood down from his face. "This isn't good. You'll catch a death of cold. Or pneumonia in your case." He jostled with Vala, the door and wicker basket of supplies tucked under his arm.

After a good telling off and and an impromptu show and tell from Daniel of the fruits and vegetables the planet had to offer, Vala had quirked what the gold looking object was on the wall. And not an hour later Vala was rather happily reclining in the bath of warm water in front of the fire. 'Well, you want me all refreshed if we're going to break out of this village.' She had pleaded and so Daniel, with several buckets of water from the well had ran her a rather peculiar looking bath. Giving her hair a good shake in the water and the fire in the bedroom to keep herself warm, she mused to Daniel telling her it'll heat the water and the metal will make sure it won't go cold.

Daniel busied himself with the food he had bought and traded for; a bigger loaf of bread and a whole basket of vegetables, which he was sure he could make a last minute stew or soup for himself and Vala, seeing as she was feeling better. Stocking the fire with new logs and using the water he had gotten earlier he started cooking the meal before checking in on Vala. He knocked softly on the door before entering and mumbled an apology for disturbing her. "Daniel, you know I'm naked under all this." She had flirted before laying out some clothes for sleeping in as well as for the day after and the imminent escape.

"I hope so it's strange even for you to bathe with clothes on." He answered and watched as she relaxed back down in the bath water. "I've got you some clothes when I was out earlier and there's some from the villager who lived here before us, he had a wife who lived here." He shrugged. "There was a few clothes left or something, I didn't really ask questions, or his name. He didn't really say much of anything to be honest." Daniel frowned. "Anyway I'm making some dinner, so don't be long."

"I won't." A warm smile pulled at her lips and she looked over her shoulder at him. "Thank you for all this, Daniel, really." She watched him retreat and leave her alone in the candle lit room again. With the fire illuminating her and reflecting off of the bath. Back in the room, Daniel used the fire poker as he crouched down and made sure the food was coming along. 'She's still naked in that room, you know?' His mind probed but it had him plunging his hands into the cold water to rid himself of such thoughts. He looked up at the doorway in fear she'd be able to detect such thoughts and mock him for such matters. A grabbed the two buckets and slammed the door shut before venturing in to the pouring rain, hoping it'll rid them for a good long while.


	9. Chapter 9

Vala regarded the fireplace and the flickering, dancing flames casting patterns all over the walls as the only light in the room came from the fireplace. Feeling calm and peaceful now that Daniel was back and a full day of being away from her little, dark jail cell. Sitting at the foot of the bed, the top of the mattress cushioned her back while the floor was a little too cold on the toes for her liking. Fisting one hand in the towel, which was wrapped around her torso and reaching out the other towards the fire, she relaxed further into the bed and felt relief for the first time in weeks that she was finally going home. No more cold... No more fear and agitation as to if and when she will be rescued. She heard and saw Daniel out the corner of her eye, the door opened a fraction and he came in with the dinner he had told her previously about. The clothes he had brought in and put in front of the fire would be surely warm and toasty. As soon as Daniel leaves.

"Vala, you'll end up getting cold again." He grumbled over his shoulder and set the food down of the bedside cabinet next to their water canteens. "Unless you're going to tell me you need help getting dressed?"

She raised an eyebrow and melodramatically pointed a few inches away from her own face. "Oh, and here was I, the damsel in distress being the innocent one for once." Vala smirked and pulled the towel around her shoulders before standing and feeling the small pile of clothes left on the bed. "I was just about to change when you came in."

"Don't let your food go cold." He left her and shut the door behind him, sealing in the heat.

"I won't. Anyway I'm feeling less nausea. So, I will eat once I'm done here."

Once dressed, she followed him, food in hand into the sitting room and main room rolled into one. They ate in silence, the only noise in the room was either the blustery wind outside or the fire crackling in indicate it needed to be stoked with another log. Once she was finished, Vala eyes Daniel, reading and writing in his leather bound journal. She noticed he was nearing the end of the book and there weren't many pages left. She walked over and sat beside him, linking her arm through one of his. "One second, I want to finish this."

"Will you come to bed?" She replied, casually.

"Later, but get yourself gone if you're tired." He turned a page and carried on scrawling, not looking up.

Vala nuzzled his shoulder and felt him stop writing. "But you keep me nice and warm..." She cooed.

"Vala-" He closed the book and looked around awkwardly before once again turning his attention to the journal in his lap.

"Pretty please?" She climbed onto his lap and sat across on his knee, legs dangling down over one of his. "Oh, come on you have to admit we've been locked up in this teeny, tiny home for more then 24 hours and I haven't tried anything on with you once." Face dangerously close to hers, she kissed him on the cheek.

"We can't. So we won't and can you please move?" He moved the book from under her very naked and very distracting thigh.

"Ah. Ruined everything now, haven't I?" Vala sighs and moves her hand over his currently forming beard and hopped off his lap, pausing only to wish him a good night. "Don't wait up."


	10. Chapter 10

Daniel moved his arm around her waist, feeling her tense slightly, clearing his throat. "You didn't ruin anything." He relaxed next to her in the narrow bed, the dark making it difficult to make out any objects. Only grey shapes. "Vala?"

"Honest?" She answered him, feeling the blanket being pulled around her more tightly as he settled with her, under the sheets.

"Honest." They fell asleep to the sound of rain outside.

Vala woke to an empty bed, save for herself. She quickly tuned into Daniel in the opposite room, probably busying himself with packing and what they were going to wear for the great escape up the trail to the village Stargate. She pulled down the sleeves of the nightdress which covered the scratches around her wrists and opened the door. A sleepy expression played on her face when she found him doing exactly what she had envisioned.

"Hey, so much for an early start. I thought we were going at dawn? So we would have a better chance of not getting spotted by any nasty little people?" She watched him as he pulled at the toggle of an olive green backpack and stuffed it underneath the wooden dining table. Vala rubbed at her eyes at the day light. At that precise minute, Daniel snagged something from underneath the chair leg, out of her sight.

"Well, I thought about that, I didn't want to wake you and it'd be less suspicions if we went in the day." He filled up a canteen of water and attended to the food cooking on the fireplace, the fire at a low heat. Less smoke that way. After a meal of black tea and oats, Daniel handed Vala a small bag with a satchel strap and a brown, wool cloak. A look of confusion crossed her features.

"It's so we can move faster, there's food, a drink and a weapon if we'll be needing it." Daniel slung the satchel over his own over his change of clothes, shades of green and black so they'd blend into the usual villagers and the wilderness if there would be anybody watching. Vala followed suit after changing into another spare outfit of the previous villager. A long, grey dress stopping at the ankles with a tie at the waist and long sleeves.

With both capes donned and fastened, Daniel bolted the front door and exited out the back with Vala in tow. The two travellers struggled up the muddy trail, to the pass between the trees and grassy plains. Daniel looked back over his shoulder, seeing the kind villager honour his side of the deal and return home. A blurred figure, blending into the thatch-roof door and disappearing beyond. In the distance he could make out the giant, metal ring in the distance.

The air was stale, it must have rained during the night, the earthy path was sodden and there were droplets on the greenery. Vala surveyed the small, tucked away area with a small pond in the forest surrounding the village and Stargate. She dunked her feet in the cold water and swung them happily in the shallow water, clear enough to see the pebbles below. "Want to join me?" She looked over the shoulder, heavy material around her neck as she watched him.

"No, thanks." He shook his head at the second time the siren tried to sing her song.

"Really? You should have bathed last night, too. Smelling a bit ripe." She feigned a grimace which didn't take too much conjuring.

"Charming." He replied, a smile touched his lips.

"You're welcome." She turned back to the water before leaving. After a two hour walk through the gross wilderness, the pair eventually arrived at the DHD. A small ways from the village, the well and Goa'uld vessel a distant sparkle on the horizon. Vala sighed whole heartedly before settling on the ramp at the Stargate. Daniel stayed at the DHD, checking the dialling crystals were indeed intact and quickly punched in the home address. He ran over to Vala who had curled up beneath the ring, pulled her up from the ground as the wormhole opened and burst forth.

"Damn, that was close..." He looked down at her tired face and brushed the fringe from her eyes. He helped her wake and stand before quickly pulling her through the Stargate behind him.

Daniel Jackson rested his head against the cool steel of the elevator wall. His hand staying on the button he'd used on the control panel to get him to the guest rooms floor. The edged key-card dug into his palm and fingers before he pocketed the item and moved away from the door. He'd been lost in his thoughts since exiting the Stargate on the Stargate Command's side. The last time he saw Vala was when they'd taken her from him in the gate room. Sodden clothes leaving a trail down the run-way. He had a minor examination as she had hers – knowing he wasn't the main source of the doctors' attention. After showering and changing into much drier clothes, he'd helped himself to coffee and chose to turn in for the night. She wouldn't be fully conscious yet, anyway. Probably going through a smorgasbord of medical examinations and having sedatives throughout the coming night.

The elevator pinged cheerfully as it opened, dragging him out from underneath a dark cloud of thoughts. "Hey." He looked up to see Vala, dressed in blue hospital garb and key-card in hand. She smiled gently and easily slipped between the grey doors. "Going my way?" Vala pushed the already glowing button and slipped the card in the waist-band of her white pants.

"Hey to you too." He eyed her carefully. White bandages around her wrists and cleaned, healing cuts on her face. He had thought about properly taking care of her injuries back on her home planet. Although only having limited medical supplies and medieval age medicine on the planet wouldn't have sufficed. "Should you be out of bed?"

Vala peered at him, lips pursed in a bemused pout. "Mm, they've got me on antibiotics. Gave me a sedative. They've taken a sample of just about every type amount of fluid from me, too. Now all I want is a good night's sleep." She shrugged and swallowed hard, looking over at him intently. "Are you okay?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He took the replacement key-card from her hip and gave it a quick once over. He knew close to very little about the internal defences of the SGC but he knew getting her a death certificate reprieve would take a lot longer then only twenty four hours. Having been through the same thing only four years prior.

"You just have? But thank you." Daniel handed it back to her and he noted more healing cuts and grazes underneath the hem of her clothes. She had probably hid it from him on purpose. Having already told him off for overly 'fussing' when he couldn't find any clothes that were warm enough for the escape he'd planned.

"Are you angling for something?" He gave her a sideways glance

"Possibly." Vala replied, sounding almost sincere. Almost.

Daniel hovered his index finger of the button to his quarters instead the doors opened to the desired previous floor then retracted. He gestured to her, a slight nod of the head and Vala visibly brightened and stepped closer to him, wrapping thin arms around him, bunching her hands in his clothes. Daniel felt her relax against him as he brought his around her, feeling the elevator begin to rise around them. "Damn it, why does it feel as if I'm always loosing you?" Daniel asked, eyeing the elevator's movement on the control panel.

Vala sighed in kind. Being sucked into the Ori galaxy wasn't exactly penned in her diary, neither was being abducted by a former rival of her Goa'uld. "Because... you are?" He was that close, she could smell the shower gel from where she stood. He'd showered. Finally. She pressed her lips together to conceal a smile forming.

"That's a cheery thought." Daniel felt just how thin she had grown over the many weeks. Jutting out vertebra, ribs and shoulder blades as she breathed deeply, feeling himself follow suit. She smelt of nature and a hint antiseptic. He separated from her as the doors rolled open the third time. "I found these on the floor in the house. If you still want them?" Daniel took the dog tags he'd found under the table out his BDU pocket and handed them to her. A hopeful expression crossed her features. He took her hand in his and tugged her towards the opening.

"Oh! I thought I'd lost these. I took them off before going into the village and you know- the inevitable happened." Vala made a snapping mouth motion with her free hand and nodded. "Thank you." She beamed.

"Come on, I've got something else for you." Daniel pulled her into his guest room, vast numbers of text books, notebooks and artefacts blanketed almost every surface excluding the bed. "Ah, I forgot about all this. I had Walter feed my fish, not tidy up. I'd left in a hurry." Daniel swiped several things off the chair and along the table to uncover the wooden top. He reached under the bed and pulled out a cardboard box. "Close your eyes."

She did. Vala heard a shuffle and a scraping sound that would be the lid on the box. She couldn't smell anything nor feel as her hands still held the dog tags and chain which was slowly turning wet with sweat from how long she gripped onto the lost accessory. "Open." Vala heard him say. She inhaled sharply then opened her eyes, a slow smile emerged on her face as she pulled the wooden item.

"Daniel, you kept some of my things?" She sat on the edge of the chair against the table. Vala traced her fingers against the indentations on the jewellery box and pulled some more things from the seeming bottomless pit; several items of clothing and personal effects from her time before joining SG-1. "Yup, if you were alive, I thought it'd be nice to come home to more than me telling you your things are in storage until you get cleared."

"That's sweet of you." She pulled her lip between her teeth and opened the jewellery box just enough to place the tags inside. Before resuming tracing the wooden patterns. Vala looked over to him. "It's late and I'm really tired."

"Why don't you stay here? Your room has- lets say been commandeered by another. For now." He looked her over. She avoided his gaze, feet swinging under the table as she played with her fingers and jewellery box in her lap. "Now I know you're sick. What? No witty come back?" He tutted, mockingly.

"You'd only wish I was still seducing you." She grinned to herself.

"That's better." Daniel turned his back to her and tidied the space at the foot of the bed from clothes and yet more hard-backed books.

Vala replaced her possessions in the box and went over to the bed. Throwing the top sheets off and climbing in, leaving him with the adorable stunned and half a-gape expression on his face in her wake which she had seen many a time in their past. She blinked innocently and patted the sheets. "Come on, I don't bite you know that much."

"No and no?" He exhaled and threw the pile of clothes in the corner of the room, getting in after her and shutting off the light.

She squirmed under the sheets and snuggled closer to him, grabbing a handful of t-shirt. " I don't think you know just how much I've missed you." She mutters into the darkness. Unsure whether it was better to shut her eyes or keep them open as it was that dark. "When you've been alone for that long and you loose your grasp on just about everything."

"Would it help if I said I missed you too?" He reciprocated her actions and looked over to where she'd made herself at home.

"Hmm, I think so." Vala sucked at the inside of her mouth, knowing fine well he did. The man could only hide his emotions so much for so long.

"I just did." Daniel replied. He heard the smile in her voice as well as feel her breath on him.

"Then, say it again." A Cheshire cat grin aimed into the dark.

Daniel inhaled deeply as he pressed his lips to her temple, even in the darkness he whispered to her. "I've missed you, a lot these past several weeks." Too intimate a thing to say out loud, even in the confines of his quarters. "I hunted you down and got you out, just as I promised, surely that proved it doesn't it?" He moved his lips and tip of nose down her face, tracing the lines of her cheeks. The darkness not exactly playing a helping hand. Daniel felt her nod and turn in his arms to move her mouth over his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin?


	11. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you all that last chapter wasn't that end! But it is this time, peoples, thank you for your much loved reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it is based in O'Mally's bar and was going to include all the team around Christmas time, though it didn't turn out as planned. Happy epilogue!

Weeks had passed since then, with the very first being a cornucopia of test results. The week after had the team of medical staff going about regaining the weight Vala had lost through the less than hospitable environment of the Jaffa who had held her prisoner. It had begun with gentle walks around Stargate Command's endless corridors usually resulting in claiming a table at the commissary and engorging on whatever delights that were on display. She had gained a few pounds each day and started a full diet to bulk up in preparation for each new day's training. Though the latest week, Vala had been given approval to step up the strength training in the gym, pumping iron on and off along side cardio workouts. After a month, Vala asked the doctors for a request to go off base for drinks, celebrating her progress and the fact she was back in one piece and indeed, alive. She had been given approval a short time afterwards only as long as she came back the very same day. 

Vala Mal Doran pushed back on the spines of the wooden dining chair, resting her elbow on the table whilst curling her fingers under her chin. While the other hand on the banister adjacent to the table and brushing her elbow leading from the raised area which over-looked the bar area of the bar and restaurant. Celebrating a belated new year party crossed with her return to Stargate Command. The décor was full of greens and reds as well as a few scatted pine needles underneath her feet yet to be swept away. Vala, wearing jeans and a black and silver t-shirt paired with oversized hoop earrings, toed off a pull-on black leather boot off her foot and rolled the pine needles underneath her toes and sole, feeling the needles rough against her skin.

“Have you been sleeping any better lately? Aren't you on some new sleeping medication?” The voice of Daniel Jackson pulls her away from her thoughts. They were both sat at a two seater table away from the small crowd at the bar a few meters away. Wearing a chequered shirt with the sleeves rolled up and dark denim jeans, Daniel sat reading the open-book menu and glanced across at Vala momentarily to give the impression it wasn't that a big of a deal.

Vala sucked her cheeks in, forming a pout to her lips and contemplated lying to him, usually it wouldn't take a second thought but it wouldn't help her right now, anyway. Cocking her head a little to the side, Vala downcast her eyes over the menu. “Either I don't sleep much or I sleep too long if I take the meds. The last time I did, I was out for about fourteen hours.” Wrinkling her nose, she picked up the menu with a faux smile. “Not exactly my idea of a good time.”

“True.” Daniel interlocked his fingers over his now shut menu and squirmed uncomfortably in his chair. “Don't we have something to talk about?” He sighed.

Vala bit the inside of her mouth before speaking, eyes staying low with no eye-contact made. She knew exactly what he was thinking about and they hadn't discussed it since it had happened and her training had begun. “What happened that night is history. I guess, just too much raw emotion and too long without a good night's sleep. I'm not saying it should have happened but I'm glad it did.”


End file.
